IMHO: Examining the intersection of technology and culture.

Getting Down and Dirty

Thursday, 27 August 2009 19:39 administrator

I always knew I like Mike Rowe for a reason.

Real kicker comes at the end. Nice reminder for Silicon Valley.

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Insidious Undoing

Wednesday, 19 August 2009 21:29 RJ Lavallee

Andrew Keen had been a part of my first book: IMHO. I came across his name again, recently, and in all places, Twitter. I remember reading his book when I was first doing my research for IMHO and thinking “man, this guy is being a bit over the top on all this stuff.” I've come to think differently.

As many of you know my view of technology has shifted greatly since the time of publishing IMHO. I have to admit that I think that shift began even before IMHO hit the presses, but I had committed to the project, and wanted to see it through.

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Confused Luddite

Saturday, 25 April 2009 00:37 administrator

Anyone who follows this column knows that in the recent past I've taken a little bit of a turn towards being a Luddite: a confused Luddite. I'm confused because: a) if it weren't for technology I wouldn't have the jobs I do, b) I truly enjoy many of the gadgets that I own and use, and c) technology allows me to stay connected with friends and family in a way that I could not do otherwise.

A recent Reuters posting, however, gets me thinking that a future proposed in the Terminator movie and television franchises is actually very plausible.

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Roman Candle

Friday, 01 May 2009 05:35 administrator

The Associated Press came out with an article on Wednesday, April 29, “Is quitting Twitter more popular than re-tweeting?” The entire premise of the article was that a month after signing up to use Twitter, only 40% of the users have returned to use the service. In comparison, Facebook and MySpace have a 70% retention rate of users.

The Christian Science Monitor picked up on this newly released statistic and ran a short article online about is as well.

Interestingly, the Christian Science Monitor article indicated that Twitter's problem is its retention rates, and that an online business cannot survive with such numbers. My question is how can an online business survive when it's not adding any value to our lives?

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Do you Skype?

Saturday, 18 April 2009 06:14 administrator

Skype is really not new, though it is new to a lot of people. Skype is a tool that allows people to communicate over the Internet...for free. Well, kind of.

Sending the human voice over the Internet – using it as telephone lines – falls under something called VoIP: Voice Over Internet Protocol.

The first time I used a VoIP connection it sounded like what I expected it to sound like: like I was using a computer. The connection was tinny, and it echoed a lot. This was a number of years ago. Frankly, I really don't remember how long ago: six or seven years at least. The experience was cool in that while living in Boston I was talking to a friend in Chicago for free. I liked free. I didn't like the quality of the connection, but I liked free.

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